For those who have not heard, we moved to Georgia! How did that happen? Well let me tell you a quick story on that, then I will update you all on what we have been doing. I think for fun, I will do this in a “bullet point” format. (That and it will help me to organize my thoughts.)

*Let’s start with saying that youth ministry is hard. It is also darned near impossible when one does not have much support in the parish. Joshua worked so very hard to bring the faith to the kids in the parish and was pretty much rejected at each point. He bore it very well but knew it was time to start looking elsewhere. I was looking at this website one day and came across a job that would be perfect. I mean downright, absolutely, positively, the best job that Joshua could ever in a million years dream up and get paid for it! I sent him the link and he replied “Heck no, it is in Georgia”. Ten minutes later, I got another message from him, stating that he would apply for it. Of course, my response at that point was “Really?!?!” then I started dreaming about what living in Georgia might be like (ha ha).

So here we are, living 15 minutes from the Georgia/Florida line, in the deep south. In the summer…and I am pregnant. It is hot. I am reminded of Father Vath’s statement during mass at St. Boniface in the summer time “If you think this is hot, imagine what hell is like”.

*When we moved, our house was under contract, but the buyers backed out, so please pray that someone else comes along!

*We have been preparing for the arrival of our newest little one. I am not due for another month, but I am hoping to have a nice birthday present for myself. Come one baby, what child wouldn’t want to share a birthday with his/her mother? We have been blessed with another awesome midwife for a homebirth, God is good. We have our home visit with her this week and are working on getting things set up for the new little one.

*This weekend we went to St. Augustine, Florida for an overnight. While it was a nice trip, I do not recommend anyone heading there in the summer. It was so very hot. We went to the beach, my first time seeing the Atlantic and actually swimming in an ocean. After the beach, we went to the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine. It is a zoo and they do not actually farm anything. It is a small zoo, it only took about an hour and a half to walk through and see everything (including stopping for a feeding show and a lesson about reptiles and amphibians) but it made it nice for the kids. We spent the night at a hotel and splashed in the pool for a while. Karol was very proud because he used his arm floaties to help tread water for a minute. Margaret was content holding on to the side of the pool while Caecilia was ready to swim.

The next morning, we headed off to Mass at the Cathedral Basilica in St. Augustine, the oldest parish in the United States. The church itself is not that old, about 100 years, I thing. It was very beautiful though, with a nice choir and Father’s Homily was very timely.  We chanted the Salve Regina (in Latin!) for the recessional hymn, ah, yes! It was wonderful.

We drove back up the A1A toward Jacksonville and hit the beach one more time. The waves were pretty big this time, so the kids just wanted to play in the sand. I went in the water and had a blast in the waves. I didn’t realize though that salt water would burn the eyes, it does. It started raining, so we packed up our gear and headed home.

I will come back to post pictures of the trip in a bit, but for now, I need to feed my crew!

…and was rather proud of it. I was in Michigan this past week with my family and had a great time. The house was over run with all sorts of grandchildren and the weather we delightful. While catching up with my little (ahem, younger) sister, she was telling me about the camping trip she just got back from and a conversation she overheard while hanging at the beach.

She said another group was talking about which K.ardashian was prettier. While she was telling how her IQ dropped 15 points just being in the proximity of this conversation, I was trying to figure out why anyone would think a Cardassian was attractive.

Honestly, I pondered this for about three minutes then figured it out.

Today I was singing this song as I went about my work around the house, so when I had a chance, I played it on Youtube.

refrain
You satisfy the hungry heart with gift of finest wheat,
come give to us o saving Lord, the bread of life to eat.

1. As when the shepherd calls his sheep, they know and heed his voice;
so when You call Your family Lord, we follow and rejoice.

(refrain)

2. With joyful lips we sing to You, our praise and gratitude,
that You should count us worthy Lord, to share this heavenly food.

(refrain)

3. The mystery of Your presence Lord, no mortal tongue can tell;
whom all the world cannot contain comes in our hearts to dwell.

(refrain)

4. You give yourself to us o Lord, then selfless let us be,
to serve each other in Your name in truth and charity.

(refrain)

I also came across this quote yesterday:

In a world where there is so much noise, so much bewilderment, there is a need for silent adoration of Jesus concealed in the Host. Be assiduous in the prayer of adoration and teach it to the faithful. It is a source of comfort and light, particularly to those who are suffering. Pope Benedict XVI

I have so much I want to say about the lack of love for our Lord, the lack of silence to listen to Him, to adore Him, to love Him. That post will have to wait for another day, as I put more thoughts down and work through them.

…how much I love my husband.

Today, I realized how blessed I am to be Catholic.

Deo Gratias!

Today we finished the old pink room and now it is a mint green room, very pretty, actually. This will be our room now until we move. When J goes to GA, I will move C in with me in her crib.

I started on the room that had been ours for the past year and a half. I got most of the walls done, except for the upper part of one wall, near the ceiling, because I didn’t want to over do it. I will work on it tonight, after the kids go to bed and hopefully be able to do the trim tonight as well. We have the flooring guys coming tomorrow to put the floor down in the office so that will be another room down.

For those keeping track, we needed to do something to two bedrooms, an office area, our dining room as well as finish installing insulation and shingle the roof to the porch. (All things we thought we would have lots of time to do, but the suddenness of the move made them have to be done NOW!) So now, we are down to the dining room, finishing the trim in the office (once the flooring is down), the insulation and the roof. (if there is more, I don’t want to be reminded.

I should think of the positive things that we have going for us and this house. Since we signed the mortgage, we have put in: a new hot water heater, new furnace, new roof (down to the rafters), taken down wallpaper in three bedrooms (soon to be dining room too), fresh paint in three bedrooms and built an office area. If I forgot something, you can remind me in this section!

Today I had to deal with our car insurance. I noticed a dent in the van the other day, a small, softball sized one, one I should have probably ignored, but called it in anyway. I know the woman I talked to told me she would call me back with the time to take it to the shop. I even wrote what she said down and hung it on the fridge. Well, no call came, so I put it out of mind. That was until the repair place called and said we had an appointment at 10 this morning (they called at 2 in the afternoon). Next day they can get me in is Monday. I called another place, same thing.

Of course, this call came right after I had sat down to have a snack and realized that Joshua was leaving in just a few days, so I was a wreck. I started bawling and Joshua thought it was because I was upset about the car until I managed to get out that I was scared that he was leaving and how spoiled I am and how much I depend on him and how am I going to do this all.day.everyday for at least a month?

(Joshua called the insurance company back and they told him that they could send someone out for an estimate. Uh, why wasn’t I told that when I said I had time constraints?)

I see that it is 450 and I have no idea what to make for dinner. These are the nights I wish I could just say “pizza” and call, but I know that fastfood has not been treating me well lately, so I will probably do cheesy noodles. French toast sounds good too.

One more thing: Happy Birthday, Mom!!!!!

I used to think I was shy. I am not shy, really, I have come to realize, I just happen to hold my cards very closely to myself.

When it comes to play dates with the kids, I would rather drive an hour to visit friends from back in the day and have our kids play than hang out with a mother who has children close to same age as my kids in my current location. (Exception: The Coolest Kid’s Mom).

I would rather hang out with a few select friends than have a crowd to run with again. Most nights, I am happy sitting on the couch with Joshua, reading or watching a dorky science fiction television show. I am content in the quiet of the evening. I enjoy an occasional Ladies Night Out with my friends, sure, but being at J’s side is even more fun.

I have come to realize why this is. It is very hard to trust someone, very hard.  I have found that many women are still mentally in eighth grade. How does one get married, raise a family and not leave mentality that behind?  How do you trust a woman like that? You are not able to, so you have to hold your cards close.

One thing I look forward to with this move it the chance to return to anonymity. No one will know who we are. Sure, they may notice us as the family with 3 then 4 young ones who talk funny, but that is all they will ever have to know. I cannot express how much I look forward to this!

I find that a few quick posts help me to know where I have been and where I am going in preparing for our move.

We have been finding ourselves moving the down comforter from the bed to the chair to the bed to the chair each day. This morning I remembered that the linen cabinet I use to store my clothes in is all cleared out, so I folded up our extra blankets and stuck them in there, the room looks much nicer now.

I sorted the last two baskets of laundry in to “current” and “not current” clothes for the kids, so, once I get things packed in to totes, I can say, clothes are packed. Book are done, some toys are done, kitchen is not done. I will probably work on that this week.

We have contractors coming to day to measure the office for flooring and a painter coming next week to do the porch and to strip the wallpaper from the walls in the bedrooms and the dining room. This of course made us realize how pretty the walls would be and that people would probably notice the crummy floors, especially if the house does not sell and we leave it empty for a bit. So, we will probably have someone come and lay carpet. Of course, this may help us get what we want from the house, in terms of selling price.